Should Christians or Muslims Be Dualists? A Critical Review of Two Articles

Charles Taliaferro’s “Philosophy of Mind and the Christian” begins with a loaded question: “Are we thoroughly physical beings, or do we contain some nonphysical part, something we may call a soul, spirit, or mind?” The question presents us with a false dilemma, for there is also the possibility that we are neither merely material beings nor do we contain a soul as a nonphysical part of us. Taliaferro follows this with a list of other questions pertaining to the philosophy of mind and asks whether Christians should give answers to these sorts of questions that differ from non-Christian colleagues. It seems odd to divide colleagues based on Christianity with regard to these questions, for it means that if the Christian colleagues do have a particular take on these issues, it will be different from that of non-Christian theistic colleagues. Perhaps, however, Taliaferro’s department consists only of Christians and atheists. In this case, however, Taliaferro seems to think that there will be a uniformity in Christian thought that seems somewhat doubtful.